In today's complex healthcare marketplace, brands continue to be a potent force. Brands, among other things, are vehicles for engagement, creating strong connections between businesses and the people they serve. When brands are vibrant
and alive, businesses flourish. By maximizing brand health, Calcium is able to deliver the kind of powerful business impact clients are seeking.

Given the significant challenges being faced by today's life sciences companies, brand nourishment requires strategic thinking of the highest order. At Calcium, our strategic acumen has been honed over many years of accumulated real–world
experience; across a wide span of client engagements; and in a diverse range of categories. Through our industry networks, we're able to track and identify the healthcare landscape changes that affect strategy–enabling Calcium
to deliver more effective solutions. The strong strategic foundation we build–and share with clients–supports all of the critical work we do at Calcium.

Our unique form of brand nourishment consists of a steady stream of powerful, engagement–building ideas–strategic, scientific, creative, and technical ideas. The Calcium culture emphasizes the constant genesis of new ideas
to drive brand and client growth. In our view, ideating freely and vigorously on behalf of clients–and constantly asking "what if?"–is the lifeblood of what we do.

Isn't it time to experience a more nourishing agency relationship? We’re Calcium–let's build something strong together.

What we do

delivering balanced brand nutrition through

The Growth Process

market analysis

Developing a deep and comprehensive understanding of the product, category, and all stakeholders. Includes a rigorous competitive assessment. Reveals critical unmet needs and market opportunities.

The art–and science–of effective message delivery. Creating the most innovative and compelling programs and initiatives–all strategically aligned. And utilizing the most validated online and offline channels to get your message heard.

ROI analysis

Because measurement matters. Constantly assessing marketing initiatives in terms of relevant metrics and in-market performance. And, based on that feedback, all thinking and materials are subjected to continuous improvement.

At Calcium, we utilize a proprietary system called 'The Growth Process™' to strategically guide and unify our various work streams. When all strategic, creative, and tactical solutions share the same underlying brand DNA, brand impact
is magnified–and customer activation is intensified.

We’re on the forefront of technology in this rapidly changing digital world. We know where patients live (in the online sense), what they're looking for, and how to find them. Our customized and measurable initiatives break industry benchmarks.
Our deep digital knowledge and skill set empowers clients by providing well-defined user experiences, platform agnostic design, content strategy, complete in-house programming, and measurement. At Calcium, digital is not a silo–it’s
a vital part of the integrated marketing solutions we offer to clients.

Our services are further enhanced by synergistic strategic partnerships. Our work with Boston Healthcare enables our clients to gain a better understanding of market access, payer communications, and reimbursement issues; it also gives
them the ability to receive critical health economics and outcomes research. Plus, our strong partnerships both with Google and comScore provide clients with unique, measurable opportunities to drive brand and business growth.

The Approach

creativity is in our bones

Creativity is the force that propels content into the hearts and minds of audiences. Without imagination and creativity, messages will disappear into the vast ocean of content that customers face every day.

Whatever the medium (online or offline), our creative work at Calcium emphasizes freshness, impact, and memorability–but also strategic alignment. In our view, the very best creative displays verbal, visual, and conceptual firepower while also staying true to the brand’s well-defined strategic imperatives. For us at Calcium, it’s not creative unless it moves someone . . . and moves the needle.

Our current clients

The Recognition

Rewards of awards

We work for our clients and their brands–not for awards. Still, it’s gratifying when our client work–and even our entire agency–is recognized
by our industry peers for quality, uniqueness, and effectiveness. Our ultimate success metric is moving the needle for the clients we serve.
But winning as many industry awards as we have also provides welcome validation for our hard work and high standards.
In our world, winning work tends to be powerful and effective work–so we are absolutely committed to continuing our winning ways.

Among the recent awards we've won:

2017-2019 7AGENCY OF THE YEARRecognitions

Over 58 awards from major creative shows

Leadership

Steven Michaelson

Founder, Chief Executive Officer

Steven has spent nearly 35 years in the advertising industry, 25 of them in pharmaceuticals. He is most recognized for his role as founder and CEO of Wishbone, a highly successful start-up that thrived for 13 strong years, was awarded 'Agency of the Year' in 2009, and was eventually acquired by Rosetta (and then Publicis). Continuing in that tradition, Steven founded Calcium NYC in 2012, calling upon the original Wishbone leadership team to help guide and run it. In 2014, Calcium NYC was combined with Vox Medica and Star Life Sciences to create Calcium, an agency that offers clients Wishbone-like strategic and creative firepower along with robust medical and scientific expertise and leading edge digital capabilities. Earlier in his career, Steven held creative leadership positions at KPR, FCB, Harrison & Star, and Robert A. Becker. Over the years, Steven has helped create campaigns for brands such as Zocor, Glucophage, Plavix, EpiPen, Oxycontin, Depakote, and Diovan. Steven is a graduate of Pratt Institute and lives with his family in New York, NY.

Judy Capano

Managing Partner, Chief Operating Officer

Judy brings more than 25 years experience on both the pharma client side and agency side to her position as the strategy lead for Calcium. Judy began her career in Sales, Hospital Sales, Training, and Sales Management for Marion Merrell Dow. Moving to the agency side, Judy was then EVP, Director of Client Services at Harrison Star and COO/Strategy Officer for McCann Torre Lazur Worldwide, where she ran the global agency network and was responsible for mergers/acquisitions/startups. More recently, Judy was Partner/Chief Strategy Officer at Wishbone. A cum laude graduate of Siena College (she currently sits on the board of trustees), Judy is married with 3 children (who look strikingly similar to Steven Michaelson’s kids) and lives in New York, NY.

Steve Hamburg

Managing Partner, Chief Creative Officer

Steve is a widely recognized industry leader who, before joining Calcium, held CCO positions at LLNS/Omnicom, Rosetta (leading digital agency), Wishbone (creatively-focused, “Agency of the Year” winner), and other leading agencies. Steve has been practicing the art and science of creativity for more than 25 years, working in virtually every therapeutic category and across digital, broadcast, and print communications channels. To every marketing communications challenge, Steve brings a powerful strategic, creative, scientific, and digital skill set. This guides the generation of illuminating insights, incisive strategies, innovative tactics, and inspiring creative–all driving greater business impact. Over the years, Steve has been active as a judge for industry awards shows and is the recipient of numerous creative awards himself. Steve also writes frequently for trade publications on a wide range of industry topics. A magna cum laude graduate of Brown University, Steve lives with his family (along with multiple guitars and pets) in Mt. Kisco, NY.

Garth McCallum-Keeler

Managing Partner, Chief Strategy Officer

Garth has almost 20 years’ experience working in US and global biotech/specialty markets. His range of expertise extends from pipeline work to in-line marketing efforts. Garth also has extensive industry-side work experience, including Genzyme, Insmed, and Dey, all at Director-level roles within Marketing. His experience includes work in oncology, dermatology, renal, rheumatology, endocrinology, pulmonology, emergency care, vaccines, burn care, devices, and genetic disorders. In addition to his extensive background in healthcare, Garth is also a sociologist. He began his work career teaching undergraduate courses in sociology. Coupling his analytic and academic experience with a deep understanding of healthcare marketing, Garth brings a unique yet grounded approach to strategic planning and tactical execution.

Ryan Goldfarb

Sara Pomykacz

Seth Reeser

Steve Britton

Valerie Wilson

Are you a smart, strategic thinker ready to collaborate with a team of experienced and passionate problem solvers? If you've got a nourishing attitude and a strong desire to help brands grow stronger, you just might be the next member of the Calcium team.